Flash

Lore for a future dragon:


For exalted dragons who forsake their vow and fall in love, there will be a heavy price to pay. Unnamed536980 had known this better than anyone because he had been tasked with hunting down fellow exaltees who fell in love and any other dragons who dared to break the vows they sworn to the Shadowbinder…

Hunting down oath breakers was an easy job for Unnamed536980, since he could sense other dragon’s emotions with his antennas and was good at sneaking around. Unnamed536980 didn't feel guilty about what he did either, even though he knew all of the oath breakers he revealed were executed. Those dragons had sworn the same vows that he had and they had known the consequences their actions. Unnamed536980 was merely quickening the inevitable when he discovered exalted dragons that had given into foolish chemical-induced impulses.

Since Unnamed536980 was so good at uncovering oath breakers, the Shadowbinder greatly favored the skydancer and gave him a lavish lair that was separate from her other exaltees. The skydancer also had first pick of vacation days too. However, even though Unamed536980 had everything an exalted dragon could hope to earn, the skydancer was unhappy.

Unamed536980 never let anyone know about his unhappiness though because he was ashamed of it. The Shadowbinder had given Unamed536980 a home, a purpose and countless other things so he no reason to want anything. Yet the skydancer was sad and found himself wanting to have a friend like the other exalted dragons. However, having friends wasn’t possible for Unamed536980 for three rather unfortunate reasons.

The first of these reasons, was the fact Unamed536980 couldn’t talk. This was because beastclan members had stolen Unamed536980 just after he hatched and cut off his tongue so his parents wouldn’t hear him crying out for help as they kidnapped him. Of course, Unamed536980’s inability to speak didn’t make communication with other dragons impossible.
He could still write down his words on paper, but it did make talking really inefficient and slow.

The second reason was the fact many of the other exaltees were afraid of Unamed536980 and tried to avoid him. All the fear most dragons had developed for Unamed536980 was initially a result of the rumors that had been spread right after he was exalted. Many dragons had falsely jumped to the conclusion that Unamed536980 couldn’t speak because he was Shade-touched. Unamed536980’s resting glaring face and tendency to get dragons he lingered near for long periods of time executed only solidified the other exaltees’ assumptions about him over the years.

The final, and perhaps most embarrassing, reason making friendships was nearly impossible for Unamed536980 was that the skydancer had a social anxiety disorder. This made it an extreme challenge to even befriend other oath-breaker hunters, who were some of the only exalted dragons that weren’t outwardly afraid of Unamed536980.

Oddly, these three reasons didn’t seem to stop a newly exalted dragon named Deliria from approaching Unamed536980 one day though. She didn't make Unamed536980 nervous either and had some seemingly magical way of knowing what Unamed536980 wanted to say before he wrote it down.

…

As days went by, Deliria continued to approach and talk to Unamed536980, which was especially strange since Unamed536980 was certain the other exalted dragons would have gossiped to her about how he was Shade-touched by now. However, Deliria kept chatting with Unamed536980 and started routinely sitting next to him in the exalted dragons’ dinning chamber at lunch.

Naturally, this made Unamed536980 suspicious. His suspicions grew even more when the Shadowbinder gave a speech to all of her exaltees and Unamed536980 sensed boiling hatred churning inside Deliria. Unamed536980 had heard stories of newly exalted dragons that pretended to be loyal to their deities, while secretly helping exaltees find Naomi Descendants with the capability of severing the sacred bond that kept them in service of their deity. So far, dragons with those ulterior motives had not been found in the Shadowbinder’s army, but they had been recently discovered in the Lightweaver's and that territory was especially close to the the Tangled Wood. Also, if Deliria was one of those traitorous dragons it would make the most sense. After all, it was Unamed536980’s job to seek out dragons that were no longer faithful to the Shadowbinder and expose them so it would be a great strategic move to befriend him if you were a traitorous exaltee because an oath-breaker hunter wouldn't expect their close friend to be an oath-breaker.

Although, if Unamed536980 was being honest with himself, he didn't want his suspicions to be true because he had grown to love being in Deliria's company. He couldn’t not investigate Deliria for her suspicious behavior though, not after all Shadowbinder had done for him…

The Shadowbinder had been the one who had saved his life by rescuing him from that those beastclan members, who had kidnapped him long ago. She had also given him a home when Unamed536980 couldn’t remember how to get back to his old one. Albiet, the most important thing she had given him was a purpose. The beastclan members that had kidnapped Unamed536980 had used brutal training methods to teach Unamed536980 to be good at fighting and sneaking. The Shadowbinder gave Unamed536980 a chance to use those skills he had been forced to learn for good though, instead of evil and Unamed536980 was grateful for that.

Yet when Unamed536980 pulled Deliria aside to question her about her true motives, he wished the Shadowbinder hadn’t rescued him because the pain of knowing his time with Deliria was about to end seemed more painful than the lashes the beast clan members had given him.

Unamed536980 imagined the moment after he handed Deliria the note that said: why are you spending time with me, Deliria? Has someone bribed you to do this?, would be one of the worst moments of his life. He braced himself to begin feeling emotions emanating from Deliria that would indicate she was going to lie as her blue eyes followed the line of letters on the paper.

Deliria had just thrown her head back and laughed after she finished reading the note. Unnamed536980 didn’t sense any anxiety over having to lie or underlying maliciousness. He just felt bubbling joy coursing from Deliria.

“Did it not occur to that I like spending time with you, Zero?” She asked after her laughter had died down.

Unnamed536980 froze and stared at her with wide purple eyes. His heart skipped a beat.

She liked spending time with him?

This was something he had never considered.

…

Everything felt bizarrely different after the moment Unnamed536980 had discovered Deliria liked spending time with him. The mushrooms in the Tangled Wood seemed to glow brighter and the night sky seemed more dazzling. Unnamed536980 couldn’t stop smiling for some reason as well. He couldn’t focus whenever he was watching potential oath breakers from afar either because his thoughts kept venturing back to Deliria and the sound of her laugh.

Unnamed536980 finally understood why some exalted dragons strove to have a lot of friends. Having one friend clearly brought a lot of joy so Unnamed536980 couldn’t imagine how insanely happy multiple friends could make a dragon. Granted, Unnamed536980 didn’t understand how any dragons with numerous friends could possibly focus. The skydancer supposed the distraction must be worth the happiness in the grand scheme of things though.

After a few months had passed, Unnamed536980 started to realize having a friend wasn’t as good as he thought initially because it was making him do and want things he knew shouldn’t. First instance of this occurred right after Deliria had laughed at him and called him “Zero.” Unnamed536980 hadn’t asked Deliria to stop calling him that, which was pretty bad.

Exalted dragons were supposed to keep the names they were exalted with. This act symbolized their loyalty to their deities. However, since Unnamed536980 couldn’t remember the name his parents had given him, he was given the name “Unnamed” and after he was exalted, numbers were attached to his name so he couldn’t be confused with the thousands of other unnamed exaltees.

Deliria insisted Unamed536980 didn’t count as real name though so she started calling him Zero. Zero didn’t protest this change either, which was especially out of character for him since he usually followed the Shadowbinder’s orders to the T. This was the first red flag Zero completely ignored.
Then, Zero found himself caring more about spending time with Deliria over his work. He even started to occasionally turn in his monthly reports of suspicious activity late so he could spend an extra hour stargazing with Deliria. Zero didn’t feel even the tiniest ounce of remorse about preforming slightly less perfect for the Shadowbinder, which was very unlike him, to say the least. For some unfathomable reason, this didn’t strike Zero as concerning either.

Things really took a turn for the worse when Deliria kissed Zero. Something snapped inside the skydancer and suddenly, all he wanted was her. They weren't friends anymore either, but Zero was to caught up in the moment to realize the gravity of the change in their relationship. He drew closer to Deliria and kissed her again and again…

…

The gravity of Zero’s actions didn’t hit the skydancer until he woke up the next day in Deliria’s bed. It was only then that Zero realized he had made a massive mistake: the skydancer had fallen in love. Zero got out of bed and started trembling. What had he been thinking? Deliria was going to be executed because he had been so utterly foolish.

Zero felt tears start to blur his vision and his chest had begun to tighten.



Mate: Nil
Former Mate: Deliria